Socio-economic evaluation of rural women and the estimation of profitability of fish marketing in four markets in Nigeria

Abstract

The level of unemployment, poverty, hunger and disease is growing at an alarming rate in developing countries 
despite global technological and entrepreneurship development. Fish is known to be the most important food 
commodity handled by rural women in Katcha Local Government area of Niger State because of abundant water 
from River Niger and streams. This study examined the socio-economic characteristics of rural women involved in 
marketing; the problems and constraints associated with fish marketing, as well as its socio-economic benefits 
and profitability. Four markets randomly selected were used for data collection. Structured questionnaire was 
designed to elicit information from twenty (20) respondents in each selected market. Analytical tools used were 
simple descriptive statistics such as percentages and benefit cost ratio. The results showed that 32.5% of the 
respondents were within the age range of 36 to 45 years. The percentage profits margin were 10.33, 9.77, 8.48 and 
7.26% for Katcha, Chapo, Dibbo and Ndalada markets while percentage of total profit were 32.23, 26.74, 22.34 and 
18.68% respectively. Similarly, benefits/cost ratio for Katcha, Chapo, Dibbo and Ndalada markets were 1.10, 1.09, 
1.08 and 1.07 respectively; indicating that fish marketing is a profitable venture. This index can be used as a tool 
for economic empowerment and poverty reduction among rural women.